Man Charged In Robbery Of Restaurant

The Suspect Is Being Questioned In Heists At A Deli, A Music Store And A Dunkin' Donuts

June 13, 2006|By ARIELLE LEVIN BECKER; Courant Staff Writer

ESSEX — A Westbrook man was charged Monday afternoon with robbing Oliver's Restaurant & Taverne at gunpoint, then leading state and Old Saybrook police on a chase that ended when his vehicle crashed on I-95.

Richard M. Schwartz, 44, was also being questioned about a slew of recent armed robberies, including a holdup at Cloud Nine Catering & Deli in Old Saybrook last Wednesday, a guitar theft at a Groton music store that same afternoon and a robbery at a Westbrook Dunkin' Donuts May 26.

As of Monday evening, Schwartz was facing charges related to the Essex incident -- robbery and engaging police in pursuit and other motor vehicle charges. He was being held at the state police barracks in Westbrook with bail set at $1 million and is scheduled to appear in Superior Court in Middletown today.

Tom Rose, co-owner of Oliver's Taverne, said the restaurant was quiet around 3:30 Monday afternoon when a man in a mask with his hat pulled down low walked in. The man showed a gun and tried to round up all the employees inside, said Rose, who was not present during the robbery.

But the restaurant's other co-owner, the chef and manager all scattered, and the bandit took off without any money, Rose said. A waitress who had been on the deck outside was not there immediately after the man fled, and Rose said the staff feared she had been taken. But she had left to call police, and returned a few minutes later.

State police went to the scene, while Old Saybrook police, after hearing that the suspect had fled, took positions to monitor the area where he was said to be heading. After state police broadcast a description of the vehicle, an Old Saybrook officer spotted the blue pickup truck. Old Saybrook police tried to stop the truck, but the driver tried to run the Old Saybrook cruiser off the road.

Old Saybrook police continued to pursue the suspect as he drove onto I-95 north, where state troopers joined the pursuit.

The chase continued until the driver lost control of the vehicle near the Baldwin Bridge, and crashed into the median divider, after which Old Saybrook and state police arrested him. Police said that the driver -- Schwartz -- was not injured and that troopers found a handgun in his truck.

Detectives from the state police Major Crime Unit and Old Saybrook police were questioning Schwartz Monday about other robberies in the area. Old Saybrook police referred questions about the arrest and investigation to state police.

In the most recent cases, last Wednesday afternoon, a man robbed Cloud Nine Catering & Deli on Boston Post Road at gunpoint, then fled in a pickup truck with a ladder rack. About two hours later, a man fitting a similar description stole a guitar from a store in the Lighthouse Square shopping plaza on Long Hill Road in Groton, pointing a gun at store staff who confronted him, Groton town police said. He was seen fleeing in a pickup truck with a ladder rack.

On May 26, a man entered the Dunkin' Donuts in the Westbrook Exxon on Route 153 around 9 p.m., showed a handgun, and stole money. He left the store on foot, according to state police.

Rose said Monday's robbery attempt was the first time anything like it had happened to the restaurant in its 25 years -- and the first armed robbery he recalled hearing of in town.